Beer: Ratings & Reviews

This one poured a nice copper colour with a minimal head when poured. A little grainy on the nose with a hint of maltiness. The flavour honestly left something to be desired. I was expecting a bit more bitterness in an ESB, there was a minimal hoppy note but it finished very quickly. Was expecting more, not that it was bad it just reminded me of something like a Budweiser Crown.

Bottle from a Phillips mixed pack, this rotational offering showing up right on the heels of this brewery's amber lager (see that review). A light russet color with a quick breaking off-white head, rather scant but does leaving some elaborate lacing behind. Aroma is robust biscuit malt, nutty and a tad grainy with a fleeting caramel sweetness and assertive floral hops. Taste closely mirrors this, featuring a deep maltiness that evokes walnut meat and toasted biscuits, woody and floral English hops that pop quite nicely, a little like unlit cigarette tobacco, and hints of caramel. Body is thin to moderate with carbonation on the high end for the style perhaps, and with a great finish, more nuts and spicy/earthy Fuggles-type hops. Great stuff at the end. Not really a session option for me, the intense biscuit malts are great in moderation, as are the herbal earthy hops that I figure are right about where they need to be. Glad I have two more to sample at a later date. More hop character than Parallel 49's Old Boy from across the Strait.

Part of the snowcase advent set. This is a solid British style ESB that is both easy drinking and nuanced enough to make it enjoyable. The biscuit notes show in the nose and the finish and the hops are apparent enough in a PNW way. Love to see this in six pack of cans as I would consider it a fridge filler.

A clear dark copper with about as many bubbles as you could fit in a glass, the foam grows for a few sips, the 3 fingers hangs around for the whole glass leaving an island at the bottom of the glass with partial rings deep down the glass

S herbal notes, grass, faint nutty coco with some dark bread, not a whole lot going on but decent

T more of the same really, needs more of a hop kick but perhaps that's just me, I'm not getting much of the Phillips house flavor much to my surprise.

M a little light and its just a little airy, not all that bitter with a leafy herbal finish

O looks sexy but just decent in other areas, not a very bitter bitter but easy enough to drink, no reason not to try it but don't go searching

far from my favorite Phillips offering but perhaps well suited for the masses, pretty tame but nothing to be ashamed of

341ml single bottle, another one broken free from the current-ish Showcase mixed pack. Hobos unite!

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber hue, with three fingers of puffy, foamy, and somewhat creamy off-white head, which leaves some bulbous swaths of lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

The bubbles are pretty laid back, just a small frisson here and there, the body an adequate medium weight, and generally smooth, in a somewhat pith-strewn manner. It finishes off-dry, that biscuit/nut combo still workin' it, in the face of a waning hop counterbalance.

A decent tipple, flavour-wise, but sort of lacking in the eponymous bitter department. I think the slightly overwrought floral character would kind of start to outstay its welcome, had I another few of these to get through. At any rate, worth a go.